The British government opened the floodgates with its "siege" on Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy, giving "tacit approval" to attacks like the Benghazi riots that killed the US ambassador to Libya, according to WikiLeaks.

The whistle-blowing's group Twitter account said the US had given "tacit approval" for attacks on embassies, because it did not oppose the police presence outside the Kensington embassy, where the website founder has been holed up for three months.

The tweet, sent late on Wednesday night, was later deleted because the organisation said its supporters did not understand the word "tacit".

But the account, widely rumoured to be run by Assange, sent a number of tweets with the same allegation - that the police siege around the Ecuadorian embassy was, in part, a trigger for attacks on other embassies.

The allegations caused a storm of protest on Twitter, but others said the view was valid but had not been put forward correctly.

Assange sought refuge in the London embassy in June, and has been granted asylum by Ecuador. The UK has agreed to extradite him to Sweden, to face sex crime allegations.

WikiLeaks and Assange say the Swedish allegations are a ploy to extradite him to the US for his role at WikiLeaks.